Google Charts Air Quality in Singapore, Malaysia Amid Fires

Google has unveiled a map of near real-time air quality in Singapore and Malaysia for the first time, painting a picture of a region beginning to breathe easier after weeks of haze and heavy pollution from fires in neighboring Indonesia.

The map, which relies on air-quality data from government monitoring stations in Malaysia and Singapore, showed pollution levels in both countries within safe ranges Wednesday after hitting record hazardous levels last month. Information on air quality in Indonesia wasn’t included because it wasn’t readily available, Google said.

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The map also makes use of data from a fire-tracking satellite of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in the U.S. to map out hotspots –areas of intense heat that are indicative of fires — as well as a NASA imaging satellite to show an overlay of the white haze that still hangs over the region.

The map is Google’s first foray into the annual fires emanating from agricultural lands in Indonesia, although its crisis division has worked on similar ad-hoc projects in the past, including during the Japan tsunami and for wildfires in Australia.

Other organizations, such as the Washington, D.C.-based World Resources Institute and Indonesian environmental groups, have released online maps showing hotspots data overlaid with partial maps of concession boundaries in Riau province on Sumatra island, where the majority of the fires are occurring this year. Fires in Riau are often started to cheaply clear land for use in the multibillion-dollar palm oil and pulpwood industries.

Riau experienced around 8,000 fires in June, about four times the usual amount, amid drier skies and indications of increasing land conversion on peatlands, where fires are more difficult to extinguish. Rain in the past week has subdued many of the blazes across the province, but experts warn that more are likely as the region enters the heart of the dry season in the coming weeks.

Google says it plans to keep its map up for the duration of the fires and haze.

About Southeast Asia Real Time

Indonesia Real Time provides analysis and insight into the region, which includes Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Brunei. Contact the editors at SEAsia@wsj.com.

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